Health misinformation refers to information that is inaccurate, misleading and unintentionally spread. Disinformation refers the deliberate dissemination of deceptive falsehoods. Consuming health mis- and disinformation can make us want to reject important health interventions, generate dangerous levels of distrust and perpetuate harmful stigmas.
Health misinformation propagates like contagion, travelling through and infecting societies just as communicable diseases do. Misinformation on the topic of vaccination, communicable disease, nutrition, drugs and eating disorders is both most prevalent and the fastest. Misinformation flourishes in times of high health and socio-political anxiety. This is because during periods of great uncertainty and fear we produce an overabundance of information – some reliable, some not. The term infodemic (a word blend of information and epidemic) has become a popular way to describe the inundation of confusing data we produce and consume through digital and physical information systems during epidemics and other acute health events. Infodemiologists, the interdisciplinary researchers who study the determinants and distribution of health information, seek to manage infodemics and the misinformation they proliferate.
Types of Misinformation
